TOP STORY > >Commander gives medal to widow of WWII POW

By Arlo Taylor
19th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

Col. Greg Otey, 19th Airlift Wing commander, presented the widow of a World War II flying ace the Prisoner of War Medal posthumously Sept. 9 at Trinity Village Medical Center in Pine Bluff.

Mildred Louise Meroney was presented the POW medal for retired Air Force Col. Virgil Meroney. Colonel Meroney was a World War II ace with nine aerial victories and flew 85 combat missions in P-47 Thunderbolt and P-51 Mustang aircraft. He was shot down April 1944, captured by Nazi German forces, was a prisoner of war and escaped in April 1945. The colonel also served in the Korean War and Vietnam War.

This medal was authorized by Congress and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1986. The medal may be awarded to any person who was a prisoner of war after April 5, 1917, the date of the United States entry into World War I. It’s awarded to any person who was taken prisoner or held captive while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States; while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing armed force; or while serving with friendly forces engaged in armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party. The person’s conduct, while in captivity, must have been honorable